Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Chelle humorously shied away from making any prediction about winning the next Africa Cup of Nations with the Nigerian national team, saying he will not talk about that possibility until the right time comes.
Sports247 reports that, though the next AFCON is still six months away, some analysts are already talking about Chelle leading Nigeria to a fourth conquest of the continental football diadem due to his ability to clinch this year’s Unity Cup in London, England.
Though the Super Eagles struggled to beat Ghana 2-1 in the semi-final and twice gave up the lead in a 2-2 draw with Jamaica during Saturday’s final, before they eventually won 5-4 on penalties, some observers see it as a catalyst for more glory ahead of Chelle and the Nigerian squad.
However, when the question was pushed directly at the Franco-Malian tactician in the wake of Saturday’s victory at Brentford’s GTech Community Stadium in West London, Chelle humorously parried the topic and declared instead that he wants to concentrate on more pressing issues for now.
The first of those pressing issues is an international friendly that will be played away to Russia this Friday, after which the Eagles will host Rwanda and then play as visitors to South Africa at the restart of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.
The Nigerian squad, which missed the last World Cup in Qatar, after failing to beat Ghana in Abuja during their decisive final qualification match, will also visit Lesotho in October to continue the race to the first Mundial that will be co-hosted by three countries, and then end the campaign at home against Benin Republic in the same month.
With such a busy and crucial schedule ahead of him, Chelle might be praised for taking the option of not talking just yet about winning the next AFCON, which will start this December but end in January 2026, though he admitted that Saturday’s trophy was the first for him as a coach.
The 47-year-old gaffer, who was born in Ivory Coast to a Malian father and French mother, disclosed: “I don’t want to talk about winning the Cup of Nations just yet. But, when I was playing, I won some trophies with my clubs.
“The reality, though, is that this is my first trophy as a coach. I hope I can bring to Nigeria another trophy with this my team, but I don’t want to talk about it now,” Chelle stated with a giggle.
It’s now left to be seen how things will pan out for Chelle, starting with Friday’s game against Russia, as history beckons on the youthful gaffer who played club football with six French teams, across various divisions, from 1998 to 2014.
As a player, Chelle started out with Martigues (which he also coached several years later), then moved to Valenciennes (where he had his longest spell and netted 10 goals in 142 games), after which he tried out with Lens, Istres and Chamois Niortais.
Before taking over the Super Eagles’ saddle earlier this year, Chelle was at MC Oran football club of Algeria, which he joined a few months after he was sacked by Mali’s football authorities for failing to win the 2024 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, who beat Nigeria 2-1 in the final.
